We often get lots of interesting requests about figuring out how to automate something. The latest request was about how to move a datastore cluster between folders. This is the type of automation action which probably doesn’t need to be used all that often and is more aesthetic in nature than anything else. However, the interesting part is that, this request came from someone that found out they couldn’t perform the action in the UI. So, PowerCLI to the rescue!
Move-DatastoreCluster
PowerCLI doesn’t have a high-level cmdlet for this action, so we’ll be creating our own. To perform this action, we’ll be using a method that’s available in the vSphere API known as “MoveIntoFolder.” We can see some additional information about this method in the VMware Code API Explorer: MoveIntoFolder Method
I have created and shared a script on the PowerCLI Community repository and the VMware Code Sample Exchange which takes that “MoveToFolder” and wraps it in an advanced function we can call with: Move-DatastoreCluster
Example Usage
The script will need to be, what’s known as, dot sourced so that the advanced function is available in our current PowerShell session. From that point we will use the ‘DatastoreCluster’ parameter to pass a Datastore Cluster and the ‘Destination’ parameter to pass a folder.
Putting this altogether looks a bit like the following:
Summary
PowerCLI is a great tool to use when automating VMware environments. In the case of Datastore Clusters, we can actually use PowerCLI to perform tasks which aren’t available in the vSphere Client! The Move-DatastoreCluster script has been shared and presents an advanced function, of the same name, which allows us to move Datastore Clusters between the available folders.
If this is a function you’d like to see added to PowerCLI, head out to the public feature request site and upvote the following idea: Enhancement for moving inventory items Datastore Cluster
